ALTA BADIA, Italy (Dec. 22) - Four-time World Champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was held to third Sunday in the Alta Badia giant slalom as Austrian Marcel Hirscher captured his second straight giant slalom win. Midway through the eight-event Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom season, Ligety and Hirscher have each won a pair of races, however Hirscher leads this discipline standings by 60 points after Ligety did not finish the giant slalom last weekend in Val d'Isere, France. Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) added an inspiring highlight to the day with a powerful fifth place finish from the 31st start position to match his career-best World Cup result. The race will air at 11 a.m. ET on Universal Sports Network.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) produced the 33rd Audi FIS Alpine World Cup podium of his career with third in the Alta Badia giant slalom.

Teammate Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) matched the best World Cup finish of his career with a tie for fifth. He was also fifth in a 2009 giant slalom in Sestriere, Italy.

Austrian Marcel Hirscher earned the wire-to-wire win ahead of Alexis Pinturault of France for his second straight giant slalom victory.

Ligety and Hirscher have split victories in the four giant slalom races held this season, but Hirscher holds a 60 point lead in the discipline standings.

Bode Miller (Franconia, NH), Warner Nickerson (Gilford, NH) and Robby Kelley (Starksboro, VT) did not qualify for the final and Brennan Rubie (Salt Lake City) did not finish the first run.

The race will air on Universal Sports Network at 11 a.m. ET.

The World Cup tour now takes a holiday break until the annual downhill in Bormio, Italy on Dec. 29.

Ligety and Jitloff, along with Miller will compete in the winner take all Alpine Rockfest tomorrow in nearby Andalo, Italy.

QUOTESTed LigetyIt was just so easy and grippy that I definitely didn’t have quite the right approach and just was thinking it was going to be slicker than it was. I had a couple of those little mistakes and you pay hard on this type of snow.I'm happy with third.

I don't feel like I skied my best but that's not easy to do every time. I've had a tough European trip and it's nice to put in a decent result. It's not been an easy December for me. I'll have a little break after Rockfest in Park City, then it's back to Europe for Adelboden and the run up to the Olympics.

Tim JitloffToday was honestly more about stepping up and saying, ‘Okay, let’s do this twice in a row without any big mistakes.’ And when I do that I’m just as capable and fast as the rest. And so that was proven. I just felt like I was on and I was doing it right. To come to the place that is the definition of giant slalom racing and throw down a fifth, I couldn't be happier.

I possibly overtrained in November. I had to take a step back after Val d’Isere. I was tired, I was not fresh. I was not feeling like who I was in Soelden. I went home in Salzburg for physical training, recovery and regeneration and I said I wasn’t going to come in until the end of the week. That’s what I did. I came in here at the end of the week and trained one day and came into the race fresh. And obviously when I’m fresh I ski well.